Brazil

Brazil, Nature's Wonderland

Brazil is a country that is full of interest to the average person. It is one
of the largest countries in the world - the fifth largest in fact - and
contains some of the treasured features of significant to the planet, such as
the Amazon Region, with the Amazon River and numerous others where you would
find a significant portion of the fresh water on Earth.

It is a country full of natural wonders, with a bout 4000 km of coastline, with
some of the best beaches anywhere, including famous ones such as Copacabana and
Ipanema in Rio.

It is a country of many cultures, with a mixture of local aborigines,
descendents of former slaves from Africa and the European immigrants making a
very interesting people and a culture that reflects that mixture. Every region
of the country has different cultural attributes but the country is well known
for being united around things like their Mardi Gras (locally called
Carnaval) and football.

It is a country where some of the most important events in sporting terms will
happen in the next few years, with the Fifa World Cup of Football in 2014 plus
the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. As it happens when such events are
staged, the eyes of the world will be on the country to see whether they are
able to deliver according to expectations.

It should be particularly exciting to be in Brazil during
the football World Cup, as it is possibly the country's second albeit
unofficial ''religion'' given that they have won the World Cup a record 5
times, which is a significant matter of pride for the Brazilians. To put it in
perspective, England, where football started, have won the World Cup in only
one occasion. Even qualifying for the 32 nations' finals is a massive
achievement.

It is not all party in Brazil, though. Even though the country has been growing in ''leaps and bounds'' over the past couple of decades, to a point where it has become the 8th largest economy in the world and is therefore a part of the ''G20'', as the spotlight put
on the country since winning the right to stage the 2016 Olympic Games, they
have significant issues of a social nature, with a lot of poverty and violence
in pockets of Rio and possibly other major cities too, to an extent that some
places are really 'no go' zones even for the Police.

I've read recently that the Government will spend
significant amounts of money in the next few years trying to address the
problem, including plans for better compensation packages for Police officers,
which at the moment have to make to with more than one job in order to look
after themselves and their family. That makes them open to corruption and the
Government admits to that and will be working towards addressing it.

All considered, there is a lot about Brazil to keep anyone occupied for years
on end and I would be only too happy to write about it.